The present invention relates to a process for the treatment of a cellulosic pulp material to produce a pelletized product.
It is known, for example, to treat fibrous cellulosic containing raw materials from various sources to produce various products such as animal litter, bedding materials, liquid absorbents and shock absorbing materials for packaging. The fibrous materials employed for such purposes include for the most part various kinds of paper pulp, recycled pulp from a recycling operation, paper mill sludge, wastepaper and combinations thereof. In addition to these fibrous materials, various additives are used to give specific characteristics to the processed raw material including the addition of both organic and inorganic fillers. Examples of such processes and products are disclosed in the article "New Technique to Pelletize and Dry Pulp, Sludge and Bark at low temperatures", by Louis Barre and Marcel Bilodeau, presented at the 84th Annual Meeting, technical Section, CPPA, Jan. 27-28, 1998; U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,560,527; 4,619,862; 5,209,186; and European Patent Application EP 0 039 522. In the EP application, fibrous raw materials including groundwood, thermomechanical wood pulp, sulphate and sulphite pulp including inorganic fillers such as kaolin, talcum, gypsum and chalk are processed into pellets useful for either a liquid absorbent or a shock absorbing packaging material.
In contrast to the above prior art, the present invention is intended to produce a pelletized cellulosic pulp product that has controlled combustion characteristics when burned to produce flavorless smoke compounds. Moreover, since the cellulosic pulp product of the present invention is utilized directly or indirectly in the smoking and curing of food products for human consumption, the raw material of the present invention is preferably a delignified and bleached chemical paper pulp that is suitable for use in the manufacture of FDA approved paper and paperboard products for use in packaging food products.